How To Turn Wood On A Metal Lathe

However you should not attempt to turn metal on a wood lathe.

How to turn wood on a metal lathe. Years ago Fine Woodworking featured a lady who used a metal-working lathe to turn wood. Centers are pieces of metal with points at the end that go on either the headstock or tailstock to hold the wood in place when turning. This is referred to as spindle turning and is the type of woodturning that is done to create long ornate table legs and other long wood turnings.

They are more versatile. You can put a bar in the tool post and use it for a rest for stanart wood turning tools but mostly I use tools in my normal tool post. Wood lathe bearings may not be as good as metal lathe.

The tailstock is the other end that can be adjusted along the lathes bed to accommodate different sizes of wood. Similarly you may ask can you cut wood on a metal lathe. Can is the important word here.

With certain tropical hardwoods you will want to cover the ways with paper or plastic and make sure that you clean up any lathe chips right away because the wood cells contain sand. Youre going to need to make sure that the steel is tightly locked in place before you begin turning and cutting it. You can turn wood on a metal lathe.

Wood Lathe vs Metal Lathe. This gives more control. Wood lathes are for wood pieces and metal lathes are for metal pieces.

You cant use the same cutters though. A good rule of thumb is the wider the stock the lower the speed. Two Basic Methods for Turning With a Lathe One way is to use the headstock and the rear spindle to suspend a piece of wood between the two and turn along the length of the piece of wood.